Employee Continues to Fight Against Red Rock Casino Unionization

Red Rock Casino Resort in Las Vegas

One employee of Red Rock Casino Resort in Las Vegas is working to see the National Labor Relations Board efforts to overturn the unionization of the casino.

Station Casinos really does not want to see its casinos unionized. The company has been involved in a union war for the past few years, trying at every possible moment to stop efforts from moving forward. Its Red Rock Casino Resort in Las Vegas has been front and center of the fight and one employee is pushing ahead of the pack. Raynell Teske says that she along with other employees held a fair union vote back in late 2019 against unionization and it needs to be upheld. She has now taken her challenge to the court system.

Fighting Back

The employee of Red Rock has teamed up with the National Right to Work group, a nonprofit the provides free legal assistance to employees who are fighting for civil or human rights via unions. Both worked together to file a new brief within the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit just a few days ago.

Teske claims that she and her fellow employees hosted a fair union vote in December 2019. The outcome was 627 to 534 against joining the union. However, a judge at the time imposed unionization. After the union vote was rejected, the regional director of the NLRB, Cornele Overstreet, became involved.

A federal injunction within the US District Court of Nevada was filed, asking for the employee vote to be overridden. Overstreet claimed that several complaints were filed within the office from employees of Red Rock stating that Station Casinos provided an increase in pay as well as benefits before the vote took place, in order to sway the outcome in their favor.

According to Overstreet, card checks showed that most of the employees were in favor of the union. Card checks use forms that are signed by individual employees regarding union support. For Teske, she says that the actual vote is a better representation of support for the union. She said that some employees might say they are supportive of the union to the leaders while organization efforts are ongoing but have reservations when it comes to themselves.

Moving Forward with the Case

Teske says in her filing that the card check argument is not enough to conclude that support was there for unionization. Secret ballots are more reliable in detecting how individuals really feel due to pressure or harassment from union organizers, according to the casino employee.

Back in November, the court ruled that Station Casinos must start bargaining with the Culinary Union involving employees. This is a separate from whether or not the casino operator interfered with the unionization process.

The brief by Teske asks the court to reconsider the ruling by the district court. At the same time, Station Casinos is working to provide emails and other communications they have leading up to the vote for the union.

The NLRB awaits this correspondence and has the ability to settle labor disputes between employees and the company. The Board has demanded that the company comply and so has the courts. Confidential information connected to the decision to adjust benefits and pay must be submitted to the Board so members can determine if the company was seeking to disrupt the vote or not.

So, the saga continues. It will certainly be eye-opening to see what the information details and if there is proof that the company did in fact, make the changes to persuade employees to vote no on the matter.

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